RELIGIOUS TRADITION AS A FORM OF SOCIAL INNOVATION IN THE MODERN WORLD

Abstract

Religious tradition as an influential phenomenon of the society’s spiritual life expresses the global social tendency towards thе preservation of continuity, integrity of socio-cultural forms in the changing historical conditions. The aspiration of religious tradition to adapt to modern realities is threatened by danger of loss of own authenticity. Scenarios of achieving synthetic unity with related religious associations, or cultural isolation in the form of aggressive orthodoxy are the means of fighting against this threat. The called options of adaptation to the happening social transformations imply not only the preservation or restoration of continuity, but rather its designing and therefore can be considered as a form of a social innovation.